Neal Schon to Complete New Album This Year

Neal Schon revealed he’s working on a new album with producer and songwriter Marti Frederiksen, and that the project was scheduled alongside a series of other plans.

Schon has been touring his Journey Through Time show, featuring former Journey members Gregg Rolie and Deen Castronovo; he also aims to return to the stage with Journey this year. On top of that, he’ll release a previously completed solo album, Universe, in August, and go on the road with a third band.

“We have four songs – amazing songs – right now,” Schon told AZ Central in a new interview, adding that work was underway in Nashville. “And they definitely have commercial viability. The story with [Frederiksen] is gonna be a Chris Stapleton story, because he’s written so many hits for Aerosmith, Foreigner and many, many others. And he has an amazing voice. The second I heard him sing, all the hair on my arms stood up.”

He said he hoped to record the full album while Rolie was busy touring with Ringo Starr. “I’m gonna put another band together and go out with that while Gregg is busy, and we have to put JTT on hold for a second,” he explained. “I’m gonna stay out there, man. I’m really having fun having my name out there. And I’m finding out that I have so many fans that want to hear so many facets of music that I’ve done throughout the years. And I’ve never really toured by myself with other great musicians.”

Schon said Journey also have plans. “We’ve already committed to a tour in 2020 with some dates this year," he said. "We’re doing a residency in Vegas in October and we have a couple corporate shows and a couple other things before that. But the rest of the year is off.”

Asked once again about the possibility of regrouping with former Journey singer Steve Perry – who returned last year with the comeback album Traces – Schon said, “I’m just gonna leave it alone, because it just seems like he wants to have his own time to do things and not have a bunch of people talking to him about, ‘Are you gonna get together with Neal? Are you gonna do Journey?’ And all those answers are always, ‘No. No. No. No.’ But then every once in a while, he says something that gives you the feeling that he’s open to it. But after a while, you just have to leave things alone and let them take their own course."

He added that, after listening to Traces and understanding its intent, “I said, 'Well, if we ever got together, I definitely know where I’d go with him, in more of a blues and R&B thing.’”